SILVER AUDIO Silver Symphony
Speaker cables
Silver Audio uses their own High Pressure Fusion termination of the speaker cables - the spades are cold-welded by 12 tons of hydraulic pressure with silver wires. This type of connection is irreversible, air tight and eternal. Silver Audio uses only pure copper Cardas spades that are silver plated without nickel layer. Such a method eliminates any possibility for inconsistent connections and is vastly superior to usual crimping.
Function and form
The Silver Symphony is a "marriage of brute force and finesse", says Silver Audio's website. It goes on "There is no substitute for generous gauge in a loudspeaker cable, which must carry huge bursts of current in response to nearly instantaneous peak demands as many loudspeakers drop within a couple ohms of a dead short from one microsecond to the next. To this end the Silver Symphony 48 specs in at a massive 9 awg per polarity. Of course the Symphony is made with nature's finest conductor, our own custom tempered high-density pure solid core silver but this is only the starting point".
Bass management
The finesse comes from the lavish and expensive method of using many individually eTFE (a Fluoropolymer family dielectric) coated, fine gauge, solid silver conductors in parallel (the "ultra-litz" method) in a sophisticated geometry, rather than the use of only two or four larger wires simply twisted together. Internal damping is achieved by oil treated cotton filling.
The Silver Symphony is a very tough cable and it was not easy to make it coil behind my rack. Before you buy any length just make sure that you'll be able to accomodate the cable behind your equipment.
Clarity & delicacy
The initial listening impression was that of unlimited dynamic power. The Silver Symphony had the energy and authority of an F1 monopost. Such a behaviour makes it predestined to play all the rhythmic music with aplomb. No wonder that Spiritchaser (Dead Can Dance) was so compelling. The rhythm take a grip on speakers and not only the speaker cones but also the carpet on the floor were dancing wild.
Tonal accuracy
Well recorded drum sets just exploded through the Silver Symphony. When I listened to Apocalyptica through the Silver Symphony, I finally got understood why it was possible to play Metallica on four cellos.
The fine dynamic shadings of the Silver Symphony also elevated dynamic performance of a piano. Though it was pure pleasure to listen to the concert grand, I found out that I was missing a smidgen of textures. Compering to my reference, the excellent Krautwire Fractal speaker cable, the Silver Symphony's mikrodetail and tonal nuancees were less resolved.
Spatial resolution
Apart from the huge dynamic contrasts the Silver Symphony provides also very solid bass fundament. The sound completely denies common misconception that silver cables are thin in sound. Unlike the Krautwire Fractal, that dissects all attributes of bass instruments, the Silver Audio prefers weight, the mass of moving air. Still, the bass was authoritative enough without any boominess or smear. The cable favours lows and highs so its midrange becomes a bit suppressed. It gives an impression of a deeper soundstage - sometimes I had a feeling that the wooden blocks in Spiritchaser were playing from my neighbourhood, rather than from the same room. It was euphonic but not bad.
Recommended resellers
Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475
Manufacturer's website: http://www.silveraudio.com
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-78, Sony SCD-XA5400ES
- Amplifiers: Accuphase C-2410 a Accuphase A-60, Plinius SA Reference
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Homegrown Audio DNA, Cardas Golden Presence
- Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Confidence C1, Audio Physic Virgo V
- Power conditioning: Nordost Thor (modified), Nordost Valhalla, Furutech Powerflux, Snakeblock
Gallery
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